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2009 Campus Technology Innovators: IT Funding

IT FUNDING
Innovator: University of Missouri

A unique Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund at MU
provides seed money for student-centered interdisciplinary
projects that result in real-world technology applications
and partnerships.

In May 2008, Michael McKean, director of the Futures Lab at the
Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) and chair of the University
of Missouri's Information Technology Committee, and his colleagues
created a new Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund that
leverages MU's existing student technology fees, along with
supplementary sources such as departmental contributions
and/or corporate partnerships, to foster innovative technology
developments and entrepreneurship. The fund
provides a mechanism for encouraging and
financially supporting multiple technologybased,
student-driven, interdisciplinary initiatives.
Grants from the fund are to be used to
enrich students' educational experience
directly, and are to support collaborations
among colleges, schools, departments, and
student organizations. But the projects are not
mere academic exercises. Key to the funding
concept is that successful projects not only
aim to generate real-world products-- often
with corporate partners-- but also that they
are expected to demonstrate measurable
results within one year.

Once a year, teams of faculty and/or students
submit multidisciplinary, technologyenabled
proposals to the MU Information
Technology Committee, which reviews all
proposals and makes recommendations to
the Office of the Provost for funding. Teams
make both oral pitches and written proposals, which include
a project plan, outside resources and funding information,
evaluation criteria, and a budget. Once a project is approved
for funding, team members are expected to make a mid-year
status presentation as well as a formal presentation at the culmination
of their year-long project.

Numerous remarkable, innovative projects have been submitted
to the fund. For instance, one group developed a
dashboard to provide real-time, high-resolution feedback
on electricity consumption,
using web-based Building
Dashboard technology from
energy monitoring and display
system vendor Lucid Design Group. The dashboard
functions year-round to track, analyze, and display utility usage
statistics on a dedicated website in real time. Another project: a
solar-powered and energy-efficient house, which draws on technologies
from companies like Autodesk, Adobe, and Google.

One exemplary project funded by the Interdisciplinary Innovation
Fund was the RJI iPhone Competition, in which student
teams competed in the development of iPhone apps (Apple
was the key corporate partner). One of the highlights of the
project was a memorable educational experience for the participating
students: The student iPhone team finalists traveled
to Apple's Cupertino, CA, campus to get feedback from Apple
engineers on their applications. Then the winning team presented
their iPhone application at Apple's Worldwide Developers
Conference in San Francisco. The project also impacts
the curriculum at MU, notes Keith Politte, manager of RJI's
Technology Testing Center. "While the iPhone Competition
has concluded, the initiative will continue this fall through an
iPhone development class taught jointly by MU computer science
and journalism faculty."

The Interdisciplinary Innovation Fund is designed to break
down silos that have traditionally isolated different academic
disciplines and institutional departments. The cross-disciplinary
projects that have received funding were clearly organized from
the bottom up. New cross-disciplinary curricula have emerged
as a result, exploiting the strategic opportunities opened up by
these self-selecting interdisciplinary collaborations. Based on
its initial success and popularity, the Interdisciplinary Innovation
Fund will be doubled for AY 2009-2010.

Vendor & Product Details

Developed in-house

About the Authors

Mary Grush is Editor and Conference Program Director, Campus Technology.